Welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News. This is Paul Billington on Saturday morning, November 14th, and the news has just come through reporting terrorist attacks in France.

"The Islamic State terror group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the co-ordinated shootings and bombings across Paris" announces Britain's Express newspaper. "At least 149 people are said to have been slaughtered in the French capital" said the paper (November 14, 2015).

The "Daily Telegraph" said that:

"France fights jihadists worldwide; has one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe -- andarguably the most divided society. It also has a steady stream of guns pouring in from acrosscontinental Europe's porous borders. It is a potent, explosive mix -- as shown by the Charlie Hebdoattacks of January, and now the Paris shootings.

"This is for Syria," one of the Paris attackers reportedly said. But he could have said it was for Mali,or Libya, or Iraq.

"Indeed, France takes pride in its proactive stance against Islamists worldwide, especially in the faceof what is frequently seen as British and American retreat. Over 10,000 French troops are currentlydeployed abroad - over 3,000 in Western Africa, 2,000 in Central, and 3,200 in Iraq...

"And last week President Francois Hollande announced that France will deploy an aircraft carrier inthe Persian Gulf to assist the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq the Levant (Isil), setting him on acollision course with the Islamist leaders."

President Hollande called the massacre "an act of war." His statement comes just over a week afterPresident Obama of the United States said that he is not at war with Islam!

Syrian refugees flood into Europe and the UK.

Refugees from the Middle East, with terrorists mingled with them, have been streaming into Europe,carrying out the threat from ISIS made earlier this year to send thousands of migrants to thecontinent.

The Paris terror strike comes after ISIS terrorists claimed to bring down a Russian passenger jet onOctober 31st with over 200 people on board -- a claim that is supported by British and Americanintelligence and evidence and which now seems to be quite certain.

As these judgments come upon Europe we should note the fact that they do so just as the EuropeanUnion is becoming more hostile to Israel. As Israel has suffered weeks of terror with stabbings andpeople purposely being run over. The media has slammed Israel for responding to it in defence -- andEurope has commenced a campaign of economic boycott against the settlements. According to theYahoo News Service the Israeil Prime Minister likened the labelling of goods from the Israelisettlements to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in the 1930's. It certainly does repeat that anti-Jewish method of discrimination.

"'The labelling of products of the Jewish state by the European Union brings back dark memories,Europe should be ashamed of itself,' Prime Minister Netanyahu said as he wrapped up a visit toWashington.

"'It took an immoral decision... This will not advance peace, it will certainly not advance truth andjustice. It's wrong,' he said.

"He drew the same comparison in September when he said that Israelis 'remember history and weremember what happened when the products of Jews were labelled in Europe.'

"After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they imposed a boycott against the country'sJews, issuing orders and posting signs telling the public not to buy from them.

"Today the settlements are deemed illegal under international law and considered a major stumblingblock to peace efforts since those in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are built on land Palestinianssee as part of their future state. But Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called the labellingmeasure 'disguised anti-Semitism.'"

But that is not how U.S. President Obama saw it however. His administration gave approval of theEU decision to label goods from the West Bank (that is, Judea, Samaria, Eastern Jerusalem and theGolan) but denied that this was a boycott.

But of course, for those who get Obama's message the fact is that it will mean a boycott of settlementgoods -- goods such as the well-known Ahava cosmetics from the Dead Sea area.

Boycotting the Jewish State is nothing new - before the State existed the Nazis boycotted Jewish goods.

All this boycotting is supposed to assist the Palestinian Arabs in getting rid of the Jews out of theWest Bank. They want it to be "Jew free". Violence in Hebron this week is but another means ofpersuading Jews to leave - but neither violence nor economic boycott will succeed in sending Jewsback to Europe, New York, or anywhere else.

Over 2,500 years ago the Prophets of Israel spoke about the time when Israel would return to theirLand -- and that includes returning to the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. We can read it forourselves in Ezekiel 34:13-15. God says through the Prophet:

"I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bringthem to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in allthe inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the highmountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pastureshall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to liedown, saith the Lord GOD."

As we have pointed out on other occasions, the mountains of Israel happen to be in the so-called West Bank, and it has been long recognised by Bible expositors that Israelites wouldsettle there in the future.

For example, in 1868 (a century before Israel "occupied" the so-called West Bank) onewriter said this:

"It may be remarked here, that there will have been a considerable gathering of Israelitesupon the mountains of Israel before the invasion of the country by Gog, and his capture ofJerusalem."

We know from Joel chapter 3:1-2 that the return of Israel to the Biblical heartland is inGod's purpose. The passage reads:

"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judahand Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley ofJehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whomthey have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."

Now when terrorists strike Israelis, Europeans support and reward them, demanding thatIsrael give up their homes on the mountains of Israel -- and when that doesn't happen, thesettlers (who God brought there as a result of the events in June 1967) must be penalizedand their merchandise boycotted. Europeans know how to do that because the Nazistaught them. Why do they not make room for the Islamic migrants flooding their ownlands?

When it comes to justice and truth the Europeans still have a lot to learn -- and that goesfor Barak Hussein Obama of the United States also.

Terrorism is a dreadful thing. It is an act of war as the French President has said, and warmeans that people get killed -- often innocent people. It has been happening in Israel asPalestinians (usually Islamic) have waged a relentless war upon the Jewish State. This hascontinued since the 1920's. Well now, Europeans are on the receiving end of it.

Europe has brought judgment upon itself -- and that judgment will intensify as God gathersall nations to Armageddon, and when he pleads for His people and for His heritage Israelwho the nations scattered, and insist on parting God's Land with a "Two State Solution."(see Joel 3).

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